Donner Party Summary

Annotated Bibliography of Six Additional Research Sources

&Nbsp;    This article, from the Western Journal of Medicine, takes a very different approach than the majority of my other cited sources.  Stephen McCurdy uses just five short pages to describe a breakdown of mortality in the Donner Party.  These mortality statistics focus mainly on gender, age groups, and the survival rate of those whom had present family or loved ones, and those that didn't.  Through statistics and graphs, it is made very clear that the strongest survivors were children, woman, and those who had family available in such a great time of need.  I found this article very helpful in understanding demographic response to such horrific events, and I now have an exciting new angle to investigate in my interview process.      "Living Through the Donner Party" explores similar themes to the Western Journal of Medicine article I cited, and it explores those themes with even more depth.  Mr. Diamond displays similar statistics to that of Shephen McCurdy, but he adds a much more exploratory edge to the numbers.  In attempting to find out why women fared so much better than men on the journey, he points out the shortcomings of men in stressful situations, such as a tendency toward violence, as their possible downfall.  A man's high metabolic rate and lower body fat count is also considered as a culprit for a much quicker demise.  Even more striking, the non-family affiliated members of the group were all men, and almost every one of them died.  I believe that this article brings a very curious, yet well informed set of arguments to the table that will prove to be very helpful.          This National Geographic article's main focus is an in-field study on archeological elements left behind at the Donner camp near Alder Creek.  Cameron Walker explain the significance of finding a hearth from a fire in the vicinity of the spot suspected to be the location where the Donner Party spent that infamous winter. Scientists explain that evidence of cannibalism, or even a better understanding of day to day life at Alder Creek, could help us separate myth from the truth.  Walker explains that the archeologists found evidence, in the form of burnt remains of human bone, at the site of the hearth.  A study is to be conducted where scientist will attempt to match DNA from the remains with DNA from remaining Donner Party descendants.

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Term Paper Resource Guide to Nineteenth-Century U.S. History

Desperate passage, the Donner Party's perilous journey West